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Track Listings
| 1. Boys Don't Cry |
| 2. Forest |
| 3. Let's Go To Bed |
| 4. Lovecats |
| 5. Caterpillar |
| 6. In Between Days |
| 7. Close To Me |
| 8. Why Can't I Be You |
| 9. Just Like Heaven |
| 10. Lullaby |
| 11. Love Song |
| 12. Never Enough |
| 13. High |
| 14. Friday I'm In Love |
| 15. Mint Car |
| 16. Wrong Number |
| 17. Cut Here |
| 18. Just Say Yes |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
As Greatest Hits--and particularly the busking pavement jazz of "Lovecats"--reminds us, the best Cure singles were very often tangential exercises; halcyon playtime divergences offering a Goth-free contrast to some of the weightier studiousness of some of those early albums. Or, as smudged frontman Robert Smith says of this 18-track collection, "Songs that are sung with a smile." This wasn't always true--witness the refrigerated fogginess of the classic "A Forest", the Blair Witch Project of it's day. What this compilation does is focus attention on the Cure's perennial unpredictability--the nursery school bonkers-ness of "The Caterpillar", the breathless claustrophobia of "Close to Me", the New Order-lite of "The Walk", the brass-section embellished thrust of "Why Can't I Be You". Oddly, chart-wise, the Cure's Lost Weekend began immediately after "Friday I'm in Love", their most ebullient melodic moment and the ultimate clocking-off to kick-those-heels! anthem. But at least the inclusion of two new songs "Cut Here" and "Just Say Yes" (with Saffron from Republica) indicate that the Cure remain a healthy ongoing concern. --Kevin Maidment
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
50 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not really for old fans - a good introduction,
By -meaulnes- (UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Greatest Hits (Audio CD)
It's easy to be snobbish about this compilation, but it's important not to forget how many great songs are included on it. If you are already a Cure fan and already have all the songs, then fine. There's probably not much here for you. The acoustic versions of some of the tracks on the second CD don't really merit a second listen, and the four later tracks on the main CD are all below the Cure's usual high standards.That leaves the listener with 15 tracks of fantastic Cure pop songs, from their punk-pop beginnings in the 70s, right through to the more mature sound of the 90s. If you are new to the Cure, and if you have a liking for whimsical, dreamy guitar-pop, this would be a very good place to start your acquaintance. The two other compilations by the Cure, 'Staring at the Sea' and 'Galore', only cover a small part of their career. This compilation is more of an accurate representation of the band's career so far, even allowing for the fact that it concentrates almost exclusively on their pop singles, as well as for the shocking emission of one of their most beautiful songs, the sublime 'Catch'. This compilation also hints at the Cure's darker depths, giving you a taste of the moody masterpiece 'Disintegration', with the tracks 'Pictures of You' and 'Lullaby', as well as the skeletal miserablism of early Cure, with the classic 'A Forest'. If you like those tracks, you can explore more by checking out the albums, or if you choose, you could follow the pop route and check out 'Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me' or 'Wish'. If you are interested in the band and would like to hear some of their old songs, without necessarily wanting to buy all the albums, this would be a good buy.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
9/10. 'Just Like Heaven',
By Demob Happy "jamesewan" (London / Grenoble) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Greatest Hits (Audio CD)
While some of The Cure faithful may feel aggrieved by the absence - 'A Forest' notwithstanding - of tracks from their gloomiest period (Faith, Seventeen Seconds, Pornography), the more casual listener will find much to enjoy here. Having had a big Cure phase in my teens, I might quibble that the Boys Don't Cry/Three Imaginary Boys era is under-represented. 'Jumping Someone Else's Train' and 'Killing An Arab', for instance, would have been preferable to some of the relatively non-descript material post-'Friday I'm In Love'. It seems odd also given how fashionable angular post-punk has been in the 00s to skimp on this early period, but ultimately you can't fault this as an introduction to the band.
What is great about this colllection is that The Cure had a habit of reinventing themselves and releasing their most resonant and accessible material as singles. This is not to say that they were a singles band - far from it, your next purchase ought to be 'Disintegration' if you don't own it already - but that this captures the band at their most varied, eccentric best. Whereas some Best-Ofs can seem fairly by-the-numbers, soulless experiences, 'Greatest Hits' is a joy for its vivid eclecticism. Despite their reputation (not always unfounded) for bleak introspection, 'Greatest Hits' reveals Robert Smith to be one of the best pop songwriters of his generation. 'In Between Days', 'Close To Me', 'Just Like Heaven' are pop perfection, while 'A Forest' and 'Lullaby' harnesses the band's predilection for acid-spiked paranoia in a universably accessible form. Meanwhile the deranged, off-kilter pop of 'The Lovecats' and 'The Caterpillar' straddles the unlikely territory somewhere between these two poles: too saccharine to be goth, too bonkers by most pop tastes. Then you have the raw energy of 'Boy's Don't Cry' and the comparatively lush and expansive pop sensibility of 'Lovesong' and 'Pictures of You'. Thankfully, the collection is also chronological, so you get (almost) the whole Cure story - and a fantastic journey it is.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Something For Everyone,
This review is from: Greatest Hits (Audio CD)
Every rock fan will be able to pick this album up and find at least a couple of songs that appeal to them. Ever a versatile band, Robert Smith's voice and the underlying bass guitar riffs are the only real constants throughout this greatest hits package. 'Never Enough' is pure guitar stomp, 'Lovecats' the grooviest of white jazz, and 'Love Song' the most poignant example of Smith's lyric-writing.What more can I say that hasn't already been said in previous reviews? Even for established Cure fans, this is a very handy condensed package which I would genuinely recommend to anyone around.
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